The Man Who Will Become King
by Konshiro Crobrasha
Summary: Jaune never was the best at things. He was always known for being the worst at everything. When a mission goes awry and he has the option to save all of his friends, he leaps at the chance. But with a new objective to get back home, he stumbles across a power that let's him close the gap between him and his friends. With new threats on the horizon, he's probably going to need it.
1. A Necessary Evil

**So...pretty good weather today huh?...alright, I get it. 'you shouldn't just be starting so many more stories without updating your other ones!'. Yeah. But the thing is that I would like to see where I can take this story. However, I will most likely focus more on my other stories than this one. So it will most likely be a while until I update this again. But with that out of the way, I now present to you, The Man Who Will Become King**

* * *

This was a rather exciting day for the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR. The reason? Well, after many many many _many_ attempts at trying to convince Professor Ozpin, they had finally forced his hand at giving them permission to take on a third year mission! So yay!

"I still wish you all would realize how extremely dangerous this is." Ozpin said with no small amounts of disappointment. Not only in his students, but also in himself for giving in so easily. But what was he supposed to do!? They stole his coffee mug and coffee! They said that they wouldn't give it him their location until they were already on the Bullhead. So any sane man would understand that he had no choice in the matter.

"Ah, come on Headmaster! We're the you're best first year teams! This is a run of the mill mission anyway. We're just going to be protecting a village from any Grim that might attack it for the next few days." Ruby said, waving off the Professor's concerns. She-_they_! She mean's they, got what they wanted, but the Professor had assigned them one of the easiest missions he could put them on. So she didn't know why he was so worried.

"My problem isn't with the mission itself, it is with where that village is that makes this mission for Teams that are Third years and above. So I must advise you once more; please reconsider what you are about to do." Ozpin said with a concerned voice as he saw both teams double checking their gear. It was true that the village itself was relatively safe. But the fact that it was literally _right next to the Grimlands_ warranted such a talented team to be required to go. It's why he really didn't want his two most promising teams to go.. But even he had to admit that while the mission was dangerous because of the location, it wouldn't be as bad as if they were going to go into the forest itself. He had to count his blessings for that. Because every person that went into that place...never came back. No matter how long they've been in there. A month, a week. Even a single hour in there was enough for the Grim to latch their claws onto them.

With enough luck, he would see all of them back here in three days time.

"Pshaw, don't even sweat! I'll break the legs of any Grim that tries to get into the village!" Nora announced, holding her mighty hammer like a staff. Rei had to stifle a small giggle at her attitude. She herself was indifferent about the mission, but would go wherever Nora went. After all, _someone_ had to keep an eye on her. Besides, she was pretty sure that she was the only one that _could_ keep an eye on her. That girl could disappear at a moments notice if one wasn't careful.

"Don't worry Headmaster, If anything happens, we will call in a Bullhead for an immediate evacuation, just like we promised." Rei said, assuring the older gentleman of the one thing that he had left absolutely no room for argument; If the teams found themselves in a situation they could not handle, then they would evacuate everyone in the village and be sent back here as soon as they could.

Ozpin let out a shaky breath and let himself feel assured in that fact.

_'They will be fine. They are my best First Year Teams. They can handle this.'_ Ozpin thought to himself. But for the briefest of moments, his eyes faltered when looking to the Arc. He hated to admit it, but the one that he was most worried about was him. Out of all the students, Jaune Arc was...the least capable.

At that, he winced. It wasn't like he thought any less of the young man, In fact, It was quite the opposite. The Headmaster saw something in him. Something that he knew was going to grow and make him into a great Hero. Oum knew how much the world needed one of those at the moment. But he was still growing. A seedling that could still easily be wiped out if not taken care of. Even now, he could see the hesitation and the insecurities in the Knight as he was walking towards the Bullhead.

"Take care..." Ozpin said as he saw the airship leave. He gripped his cane tighter, feeling the pit in his stomach before dismissing it as just being worried for his students.

However, If he knew what was to happen to a certain blonde, he would have ordered that Bullhead to take them back instantly.

Coffee or no.

* * *

"Wow! We're actually doing this! Can you imagine, Weiss? Ozpin actually let us go!" Ruby cheered, feeling ecstatic that she was actually on this mission. It was something that she wanted to go on since she had first seen it on the mission board. Why she wanted to take that mission? Well, because that's where she could buy a Ultra-Super-Mega-Gama-Platinum Rare Limited edition edition of Red vs Blue! It's said that the copy has a crossover that would never be matched again for centuries to come. It had been torture for how long she had to save up. And even more so with how long it took to convince the Headmaster to let them go. Was it a bit selfish? Eh, it's not that bad. She disguised it as a way to further improve both Team JNPR's and her own team's coordination even further. Which was true in its own way. But the comic was the main reason. She needed to know what happened in it dammit!

"It's not that exciting. If the village had a hot spring, then I might be a bit more interested. Really Ruby, why were you so insistent on taking this mission specifically?" Weiss questioned for the umpteenth time. She wasn't _entirely _against the idea. It's just that the village didn't seem so special to her. It was just another settlement that was trying to set itself up in a rather dangerous area. Granted, the area itself was rich with different resources like precious metals and other natural minerals. There was even a stream of water nearby. But that was everything that the mission file had said. Nothing else...well, of course, there was the fact that it was next to the Grimlands, but they already knew that. So nothing was out of the ordinary. Which begs the question of why the _hell_ did her Leader decide to go to a remote village, in the middle of nowhere! Plus! There wouldn't be any internet there! What the heck were they supposed to do there? Sure, they could train and make sure that the village wasn't attacked, but she highly doubted that it would happen within the three days that they were contracted for.

"Oh, you know, it was the only mission that the Professor would let us take...yeah..." Ruby trailed off, trying to not look Weiss in the eyes. Her partner's gaze becoming a bit overbearing before her sister barged in with her own two cents.

"Ah, it doesn't matter _why_ we're going, I'm just eager to go up against stronger Grim! The ones in the Emerald Forest are okay and all, but I'm pretty sure any Grim from the Grimlands is _way_ better than anything that I'd find in any plain old forest." Yang said, portraying her excitement at the prospect of stronger enemies. Truly, she was as wild as her fighting style. She then turned to Blake and asked her what she thought about the situation. Blake only looked up from her book for a moment before going back to reading. Yang shrugged, already haven gotten used to the cat Faunus' antics. She still chuckled at the memory of how they found Blake on her bed, with her bow off, showing her cat ears. she was in such an adorable sleeping position! Evidently, Blake had been so tired the previous day that she forgot to put her bow back on after her shower. _That_ had been an awkward morning. But it was all fine now. JNPR knew about it too because Ruby couldn't keep a secret for the life of her. At least, not when it came to her fellow leader.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, Ruby Rose, the weapon loving, comic book reading and gun having fifteen year old had a giant crush on one Jaune Arc. And honestly? Yang didn't mind it too much. Jaune was an okay guy, maybe not the most ideal, but the best one that could probably take care of her little sister. He was nice, had a decent sense of humor, and most importantly, would be one hell of a househusband should the Huntsman rout not work out for him. For as good as Jaune had gotten, he was still lacking the skill to be a good Hunter. Sorry if that sounded harsh, but she wasn't one to beat around the bush. Weiss knew it. Blake knew it. She knew it. It's just her sister and the rest of Team JNPR that need to see it too. But that's not to say that she thinks that Jaune can't be a good fighter, it's just that being a Huntsman would be too dangerous for him. She cared about him too much as a friend to allow him to just go out there and kill himself because he wasn't prepared.

"Well, I know I'm going to have a _smashing_ time!" Nora joked, giving a high five to Yang as everyone else groaned. Nora could be as bad as Yang sometimes. But she herself had a semi-decent sense of humor. Though, her true calling lied in slapstick humor. a purely physical side of comedy. But she would usually be culled by her childhood friend before her 'jokes' could get out of hand. Most of these 'jokes', actually, were centered around Jaune. He was such a good sport about it too! He'd never get mad at her, but would laugh with her instead. Such a good leader!

"Please Nora, could you please keep it down? You know that Jaune needs to concentrate on keeping his motion sickness at bay." Pyrrha pleaded in a concerned tone, sitting next to Jaune as he kept his back strait and his face blank with closed eyes. Nora's smile lessened at that and sent him a sympathetic look. At the comment, they all sent him their own looks. All varying levels of sympathy.

He hated this.

He hated the fact that he had motion sickness. He hated the fact that he had to make such a long flight. It would be another three hours before they were even halfway there! It didn't stop there though. He hated the fact that they were so excited for the mission that the Headmaster himself had allowed them on that was supposed to be for third years and above, yet he was terrified. He hated it!

"No, It's okay P-Pyrrha. I can handle this." Jaune said, keeping his eyes closed. While he hated a lot about this situation, he would put his own want to just go back and sleep the rest of the day in the dorms. He wouldn't ruin his friends' big day just for his own wants. He was lucky that these amazing people would choose to be his friends. A guy like him that couldn't fight and had to cheat his way into Beacon. They had accepted him so easily.

And that's what's making the situation all that much worse.

He was just so weak! He couldn't use his weapon properly, he couldn't use his shield properly, and he couldn't even talk properly! There was just so much that was terrible about him that he just couldn't understand how these seven people could possibly consider him a friend. Ruby especially. She was a prodigy to his own lacking skill. She had been accepted two years earlier while he had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and cheat his way to where he was supposed to be! Yet she took the time out of her day to become friends with him. It baffled him. He knew that even on this mission, he'd have to be carried by the rest of them. But he swore, that he would pay them back somehow.

Even if it cost him his life.

* * *

.

..

...

"There's nothing to _do!_" Nora and Yang both exclaimed at the same time. They had arrived at the village not too long ago, and already, they had realized just how much of a boring place this was! There was no CCT Network, so there would be very minimal communication. That also meant that they couldn't use their Scrolls for any of their normal games! So what the FU-

"Uh-huh, that's nice Yang, now, if you could, let me read this." Ruby said as she held her new comic book. So far, nearly everything was perfect about this comic! The Action! The Suspense! The Drama!

The Romance!

It was just so perfect! All of her usually high standards were being met! And the cross-over aspect had been implemented perfectly. She was just getting to the secret ending of volume #236 where there was a _huge_ plot hole that the author never explained and left so many enraged fans unsatisfied. This would cover that up and more!

_'Yes...Yes! YES YES YES! **YE-'**_

"Oh, is that a comic book? Let me see!" Yang said, grabbing the comic from Ruby's hand, leaving the small girl stone from having been denied the ending of the story. She slowly turned to her sister only to see that Nora was fighting for it as well.

"Give it to me! There's not a single interesting thing here and this comic book is the only thing that can keep me sane!" Nora exclaimed, a certain look in her eyes that gave truth to what she had said. A bored Nora was a Crazy Nora. If you thought you've seen Nora act crazy before, then you were in for a _hell_ of a time. And that wasn't used in a good connotation. But that wasn't important right now. What _was_ important, was the fact that Yang and Nora were using the comic book as a makeshift rope for tug-of-war.

"Let go!"

"No you let go!

"I'll let go when you let go!"

"No!"

"Guy's, please! You're going to-"

***_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP_*******

Ruby was a second too late as Yang and Nora had succeeded in tearing the bundle of literate perfection into shreds. Both of the offenders had the decency to feel ashamed that they had destroyed something of Ruby's. But they were mostly sad that they had destroyed the only means of entertainment in this boring village.

Ruby had caught two handfuls of the shreds as they fell. falling to her knees. Nora and Yang turned to the small reaper, both seeing the growing dread in her eyes. they both hissed in guilt before Yang tried to speak up.

"Ruby, are you al-"

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

* * *

Jaune was busy practicing with Pyrrha to try and better his own swordplay when he heard a yell from across the way. For a moment, he lost concentration and turned to the source. That was a mistake as Pyrrha had slashed across his chest and knocked him on his butt. She stopped once she realized that he had been disorientated. At the same time, she also noticed the rather sizable tear in his hoodie. They had opted to not wear their gear with them as they had decided to just do some 'light' sparring. She would admit though, he was developing nicely underneath his now...ruined hoodie and shirt. She should probably help him up.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Jaune! I thought you were going to block that one." Pyrrha said as she helped him up to his feet. Jaune looked down at his ruined clothing, seeing his bare chest. His eyes widened a bit before he sighed, dawning a disappointing look. His shoulders sagged, feeling even worse than he already did. It was another sign of how weak he was. If that had been an actual fight with a Grim, he'd be dead. There was just no end to how weak he was. If only there was something...something that he could do to make himself what he was supposed to be and not the pathetic weakling that he was!

"...It's fine Pyr, It...wasn't that important anyway." Jaune said, starting to walk away. He wasn't angry at her. He really wasn't. He was just mulling over the fact thathat he would have to wait until to hey got back to Beacon if he wanted to stitch it back up. Though, saying it the way he did, left Pyrrha feeling worse than she had been before. However, he was already out of earshot when she tried to call to him again.

There was no denying it. Jaune was suffering from self confidence issues. She thought that she had been getting him to be more confident in himself recently, but with how he had responded just now, she was proven wrong. It worried her to the core, seeing that the man that had captured her heart was suffering like this. She could only hope that more training with her would improve his ability to fight. And if he could do that, then he would be more confident in himself for it!

* * *

Pyrrha could not have been any more wrong. If anything, her training had made his situation worse. He could clearly see that Pyrrha was pittying him. Only training him so that she didn't have to worry about him. He was greatful either way. If he kept up at it, he would be able to at least keep up with some of them...oh who was he kidding? He could tell that Pyrrha was holding back on him. He couldn't imagine, even in a million years that he would be able to catch up to any of them. But for now, he would have to go and get changed. Maybe put his armor on too. There's no telling when a Grim attack might come around.

.

..

...

Oh, so tempting fate like that was just a myth. He could have sworn that it was real for a moment there. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all-

"**ATTENTION! A HOARD OF GRIM IS HEADING TOWARDS THE VILLAGE! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! I REPEAT! GRIM ATTACK INCOMING! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! ALL HUNTSMEN AND HUNTRESSESS HEAD TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE VILLAGE. THE VILLAGE MILITARY WILL DEAL WITH THE EVACUATION OF CIVILIANS!**"

Nevermind, he just had to prod it didn't he? Oh well, he had a job to do. So with a jog over to his gear, which he kept nearby in case something like this happened. He put on his rather minimalistic armor and headed towards his destination.

* * *

As he approached his destination, he had passed by many civilians. All running the opposite direction to try and escape the threat. Multiple soldiers were making sure that they were getting there safely. A part of him wanted to go too, but he quickly squashed that feeling down. He needed to prove not only his friends, but also to himself that he was capable of handling himself. So with a wary sigh, he continued and made his way over to the village wall. The side that was facing the Grimlands.

As he stopped to assess the situation, he noticed that the entirety of team RWBY was already fighting along with Rei and Nora. With Blake, Yang and Nora being the offense while Ruby, Weiss and Rei stayed back to provide cover fire. He noticed that while the six were dealing with the threat just fine, a few stragglers had snuck passed them and were on their way to hunt down some of the villagers. He was going to go after them, but the sound of rapid gunfire stopped him in his tracks as the soldiers from before were able to mow them down. For the umpteenth time that day, Jaune was hot with the feeling of being worthless again.

He pushed the feeling aside and decided that he could let out his frustrations on the Grim trying to get passed.

After about an hour of fighting off the seemingly endless wave of Grim, the soldiers from before had announced that all the villagers were safe and accounted for. By this time, they had all been tired and running out of ammo. All, except for Jaune. While his large Aura reserves may have been the cause of his near limitless stamina, the real reason that he didn't really feel tired, was because he didn't do all that much fighting. Or more accurately, he wasn't _allowed _to fight. Whenever he was going to actually fight anything, one of his friends would come in and do it for him. It just hammered in the point that he just couldn't measure up to his own friends. It made him feel sick to his stomach knowing that.

Not really needing to be there for any longer, the two teams had started to retreat. Having. To fight the persistent monsters the entire time, they had barely made it to the waiting Bullhead when they heard a caw. Looking up, they saw that there was a Giant Nevermore. It was even bigger than. The one that they had fought in Initiation! With the new threat right on their heels, they quickly boarded the airship and signaled the pilot to start going.

They left the hanger door open as to keep the Grim from being able to take down the aircraft. And as expected, Jaune couldn't do anything because he didn't have a long ranged weapon to use. Yet another region that he had no expertise in. So he had to stay back and watch as his friends fired at the Grim, silently cursing his own shortcomings.

When they got far enough off the ground, they all sighed a bit before the entire ship shook, nearly knocking them off balance. When investigated, they realized that the Giant Nevermore had just scraped the top of the vehicle with its large talons.

"How are we supposed to fight that thing?! We're stuck in here and it's right at home up there!" Yang yelled, trying and failing to hit it with her shotgun gauntlets. Everyone else was in a similar boat. This Nevermore was faster, stronger and smarter than the one that they killed in Initiation! But before they could ponder on any sound plans, the ship shook again, but this time, they were warned by the pilot that the engines had been hit. Any more and the airship would be going down.

"I'm going to try and get above it so that the feathers can't hit us! Just try to hit the damn thing!" The pilot roared as he forced the elevation of the aircraft. The engines struggled, but didn't give. They all turned to the opening of the ship as they saw the Nevermore below. It looked up at them and cawed, also starting to ascend.

Everyone was firing everything they had at it. All of their ammo and Dust. But it just wasn't enough as the giant bird Grim crashed it's head into the entryway, knocking most of the students back while also shattering their Aura, or what was left of it. They all breathed heavily as they tried to get their bearings.

"What we're we thinking? What was _I thinking?_ We shouldn't have come here. I should have listened to the Headmaster. Now...now we're all going to die because of me." Ruby cried as she curled in on herself. She was so stupid! Why did she go through all this trouble? For a simple comic book? Now look at them. They were all going to die because she had some stupid selfish desire.

"I'm sorry everyone."

.

..

...

"Don't worry Crater Face. I've got this one." Jaune said, standing at the opening of the damaged vehicle. They all looked to him from the back of the ship. He was facing away from them, looking down st the Grim as it approached.

"Jaune? What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked, concern clear on her face. He seemed to not have been hit by that last attack. But what worked her was that he was holding his sword in its sheath, no longer strapped to his waist.

"Here. I wont be needing it anymore. Make sure that my family gets it back. And tell them I'm sorry that I won't be coming home." Jaune said, tossing his family weapon back to them. Ruby's eyes widened and tried to get up to try and stop him, but she was still too weakened from all that fighting.

"Wait, Jaune! Whatever you think your going to do, don't do it! Come over here so we can think of a plan to-"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME, RUBY!" Jaune interupted, shouting at the top of his lungs, still keeping his back to them. He couldn't let them see his terrified face. Not now. "We don't have time."

"I've been trying to prove to you all that I could be able to be on par with you all. I was trying so hard yo earn all of your kindness and friendships. I never understood why any of you would want to be friends with a cheating lier. But I was determined to make it up to you in some way. But I couldn't do a damn thing until now. Until now, I had no way of showing all of you how much I cared for you. I always felt so helpless when any of you had to go out of your way to help me. It made me feel sick inside, knowing that I was wasting your time and effort just so I could better myself. I am a weakling. Even after all that training, it was wasted." Jaune started, letting his tears flow down his face. The others were in silence. They had never realized that Jaune was suffering this much. The fact that his own friends, even his own partner couldn't see this much had hurt them beyond belief. But what terrified them more was the connotation that went along with the speach. They were going to try and talk him out of it, when he finally turned his face to them, showing the tears on his face and the sad smile gracing his features.

"Buy with this, I can pay you all back, at least partially." He said, turning around, facing the opening as the Nevermore was getting dangerously close.

"Pyrrha. Ruby." Jaune called, making them look at him with worried eyes.

"I love you. Both of you."

"Goodbye."

With that, he jumped from the opening, falling towards the now confused Grim. He yelled at the top of his lungs as he channeled all of his Aura into his fist, remembering a technique that Rei had taught him, and aiming it right at the bird's mouth. As he saw the Giant Nevermore open its maw, showing it's endless abyss of a mouth, he remembered all the fond memories of his time at Beacon. Of his family. Of his friends.

He smiled one last time before entering the Grim's mouth.

For a moment, there was silence. But in the next instance, there was a bright light, making everything into a pure white. After a second of this, it faded, showing that the Nevermore had been blown to bits. The remaining pieces of the corpse turning to smoke and and she as it fell to the ground. It was at this moment that everyone on the ship had finally snapped out of their shock, rushing to the opening of the ship.

"Jaune!" They all exclaimed, looking for the blonde. But found no trace. They all rushed back to the front of the ship and started yelling at the pilot.

"Turn the ship around! We have to go back! We have to find Jaune!" Nora commanded, being deadly serious. The fact that she used Jaune's actual name was enough to make anyone realize theheoohat opening sheer weight of the situation. The pilot however was trying to reconfigure the control panel to try and keep the plane afloat.

"We can't do that." The pilot said, making Yang's eyes go crimson before grabbing the man by the collar and looking him dead in the eye.

"And why the hell not!?" She questioned. The pilot widened his eyes at the threatening glare that the blonde was giving him before licking his lips and answering her.

"We were lucky that the hit from earlier hadn't taken us down, but now this thing is barely staying in the air as it is. If we turn back now to look for your friend, we wont be able to make it back. It's either we make it back and lose one of your own, or we look for him and all die for nothing. I know what my job is." He explained. Yang tensed her muscles a bit before letting the pilot go. Only her and Nora had gone up to talk to the pilot, Rei and Weiss had opted to try and comfort the shell-shocked Ruby and Pyrrha.

They had been silent and mostly unmoving since Jaune had declared his feelings for both of them and then just...jumped off. Blake was just looking at the hanger door that was now closed. She just couldn't comprehend what had happened. Jaune had just sacrificed himself to save them...to save them...why?

Nora and Yang had walked into the room and made their way to their friends, not quite ready to give the news, but didn't really have a choice in the matter either.

Rei was the first to notice them, getting up and meeting them half way there.

"Well? When are we going to find Jaune?" She asked, more emotion on her face than any of them had had seen since they knew her. Only Nora had seen her like this before, and that was when their village...

"We...can't go back." Yang said sadly and with no small amounts of guilt. Rei's face went from apprehensive to downright furious. But before she could ask why, they heard Pyrrha from behind them say something.

"What?" She asked, looking at them as if expecting them to say that they were kidding and that Jaune was perfectly fine. But the looks that they had at the comment made the situation worse.

"The ship is too damaged. We'll barely be able to make it to Vale or Patch if we're lucky. If we go back for him, we wont be able to go home. We'll die out here for nothing." Yang said, sitting down on a chair and placing her head in her hands and slightly pulling at her hair.

That seemed to be it for Pyrrha as she broke down crying. Her teammates sticking by her side, trying to comfort her. But and the this point, the only person that could comfort her now, was gone.

Yang was trying to fully process everything when she heard a small sob. She looked to see that Ruby was huddled in the corner, Weiss next to her. But what caught her eye was Jaune's sword and sheath in her hands. She was hugging it tightly to her chest. She got up and walked over to her, silently telling Weiss to check on Blake while she dealt with her sister. The heiress nodded before leaving the two of them alone. Ruby hadn't noticed Weiss leaving, nor had she noticed Yang being there either.

"Please. Come back to me. I can't lose you too." Ruby silently sobbed. Yang winced at that. She knew that Ruby was still suffering from losing Summer. And now that her first friend and love interest was gone too, she couldn't imagine how that might be making her feel. So she did the only thing she could do. Sit down next to her and try to comfort her sister in her time of need.

"It's going to be okay sis. It's going to be okay." Yang said, trying to reassure her sister and herself. But she knew the truth. And she hated it.

It wasn't going to be okay.

Nothing was okay.

* * *

**Alright, that was a heavy first chapter. But I think it was good. I really do. Anyway, like I said, I probably won't be able to update this too often. I need some sleep, so I'll see you guys in able not her chapter of mine I guess. Toodles~!**


	2. What Now?

**Hi! So I didn't hear any objections to updating this story, so I guess this is what you guys wanted. And I'm going to address this one last time before I drop the subject all together. I can not update this as often as my other stories. I would love to, but I don't have the time. Now, I know you want to read this already, so I'll talk to you in the Notes at the bottom.**

* * *

What now?

That was the question going through most of the student's minds while they had made the long and quiet trip to the nearest town. That just so happened to be the Island of Patch. They had been for the most part, quiet as they rode in the Bullhead. None of them were willing to say anything. Not after what happened to Jaune. They would have made the pilot turn his ass around and look for their blonde friend. But even now, they knew that if they did go back that they wouldn't have a mode of transportation to get back. And with a shortage of ammo, a long distance between them and the next village, they had no other options. That wasn't even considering the fact of how long it would take to find Jaune in the first place. They would be hard pressed to get anyone back to Beacon. But the fact itself was making this all that much worse.

_'I want him back. I want my knight in shining armor back."_ Ruby thought to herself as she cried into her sister's shoulder. She gripped onto her crush's weapon tightly, trying to hold onto one of the only things that she had of him. It was one of the first things that they had bonded over. It was when they had become friends.

Eventually, she'd grown to realize that she loved him.

He was so sweet, nice and willing to help. He gave her a hand whenever she needed it. He was the same person that goofed off with her whenever her team was too busy with their own plans. When Weiss needed to go and get her bi-weekly spa visit, or when Blake...wanted to be alone, and when Yang had plans to go out on the town, he would be all down to hang out with her. Whatever she wanted to do, he'd go along with it without question. Even when she wanted to make some cookies in the cafeteria after dark, he went with her. Goodwitch had caught them after they had accidentally blown up the kitchen when Ruby tried to use fire Dust to 'enhance' the flavor. Ruby had been behind one of the counters when the professor had walked in, so she wasn't initially found out. Jaune was standing directly in the middle of the kitchen when the combat instructor walked in. When asked if there was anyone else in there, he said no and was able to convince Goodwitch to not investigate the place. He got a months worth of detention. Even when she tried to apologize to him for getting him in trouble, he waved it off, saying that it wasn't a big problem. Jaune seemed to never get angry at anyone. He was always the reliable one of the group that you could count on. After what he said though...

_'How could I have missed it?'_ Ruby thought, thinking back to how she would sometimes see Jaune alone in the training rooms, sitting down on a bench. He always looked so...worn. His eyes looked so sad and she could have sworn that he had some tears falling down his face. But whenever she would try to talk to him about it, he would quickly change attitudes and talk to her like nothing was wrong. She never really thought much about it, but she wished she did. Jaune thought that he didn't deserve to be their friend. He thought so low of himself that he felt the need to jump out of the Bullhead and save them from that Nevermore at the expense of his own life.

_"I love you. Both of you. Goodbye"_

His final words to them. To both her and Pyrrha. That was something that the small reaper was going to have to think about later. But for now...she just...she needed to cry for a bit longer. None of this would have happened if she wasn't so selfish...

* * *

It had been a few hours since they had escaped, and now they were about to make it to their destination...a lot faster than they might like though.

"Hold on everyone! The engines are failing!"

Like, a _whole lot_ faster.

As the teams held onto the ship for stabilization, the entire aircraft started to shake and shutter. The engines each caught fire and stopped working before one even blew up, sending them plummeting to the island of Patch. The pilot was able to level out the Bullhead enough before they started crashing through the forest below.

The ship dragged through the ground, tearing up trees and different plant life. Even some Grim were ran over as the aircraft ground to a halt. The teams inside were recovering from the impromptu landing as the pilot took off his helmet and thanked Oum for letting them live through that experience. He got up from his seat, being followed by his Co-pilot, going to check on the two teams.

"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" He asked as he surveyed the room. He didn't see anything as bad as you would expect from a crash landing, but it never hurt to ask. But looking at the students, he could tell it wasn't the physical damage that he should be worried about. He's had his fair share of missions gone wrong. If anything, they were lucky that only one person had been left behind. Some missions, he had to go home alone. He would never forget the mission that his own son was his Co-pilot. He was told to go without him as he baited the Grim away because the Huntsman team had been completely wiped out. He lost a lot that day. If they were feeling anywhere near as terrible as he did all those years ago, they were going to need time to adjust and heal.

He didn't get any verbal confirmation, but they just got up and started looking for the exit. He sighed and looked to the side, seeing that the ax for emergencies was loosely hanging from it's designated place. He knew that the hanger door would most likely be shut tight. It was designed to stay closed until either a rescue team got them open, or if the pilot(him) were to use the ax to cut a cord that will release the torque keeping the door shut.

"Hold on everyone, let me get this sucker open." The pilot said, carefully treading the messy room to a certain sheet of metal to the side. It looked worn and nearly torn open, but It was still fine.

The students stayed there, trying to recuperate from the crash. They had been trained to get up even when disorientated, but they figured that it took experience to recover like the pilot did. Though, the pain in their heads still did nothing to distract them from the painful memory of losing someone close to them.

The pilot tore away the metal plating and saw the cord that was left alone. He drew back his weapon and swung with all his might. This cord wasn't a frail little thread of cloth after all. So with a satisfying snap, the cord was split in two, releasing the tension of the door and allowing them to pry it open.

Once the students regained their bearings, Yang and Nora helped since they were the strongest out of their group to open the door. With some groaning and screeching of metal, the hanger was finally opened revealing the trench that had been made from their crash landing. The pilot sighed to himself before he pulled his emergency flare gun from his belt, at first thinking that they should wait here for someone to eventually come and pick them up, but a second later, he put it away, remembering that the two teams were still recovering from losing one of their own. Those negative emotions were practically a siren for Grim to come. With that in mind, the pilot decided that he should lead them all to the closest city. Patch was a relatively small island, so it shouldn't take that long to get there. With them low on ammo and strength, they were lucky that they were able to make it to one of the mainland settlements.

"Alright everybody, the plan here is to keep moving and see if we can make it to civilization before sunset." He said, making them nod to him and make sure that their gear was all ready. After a brief moment of checking, they had all started walking westward in the direction that they were last heading to. But the only thing that they could think about was that they were probably better off than Jaune. Not only did he not have his weapon, he also had no real settlement to go to. If they didn't get back to Beacon soon and get Ozpin to send a rescue party to him, he...

_'We need to get him back. I need to get him back.'_ Pyrrha thought to herself, thinking about how he was so kind to her. How he was so...perfect to her and everyone around him. If she let him die, then she would feel like she had failed him as not only his partner and friend, but also someone that could have been more to him. She needed to save him. She needed to.

* * *

How long had it been? Seven? Eight hours? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that it had been some time between killing that Nevermore and wandering the forest. The blonde had been confused as to where he was and lost his orientation. He landed somewhere deep in the forest. The treetops were thick with branches, yet almost no leaves grew from them. It gave off a foreboding aura. With how the entirety of the treetops was still covered in darkness, covering the sun, Jaune didn't know what was where.

As sad as this was, he was going in the opposite direction that his friends had gone and was instead heading deeper into the Grimlands. He was deemed lucky however, as he hadn't found any Grim on his trek through the woods. That last invasion from earlier had been a majority of what inhabited the forest, so Jaune lucked out. However, he also knew that it wouldn't matter how lucky he was if he stayed in this forest for very long. Grim would eventually find him, and when they did, he would be mincemeat.

"I just hope...that the're safe." Jaune said to himself as he stepped over tree roots and around the large trees. His hoodie had been torn mostly in the right hand side from that Aura blast. His jeans were mostly the same, save for a few tears from his rough landing. His armor had been completely totaled, taking most of the force of his fall. He knew that he was going to die out there, and that he didn't know why he was trying to get anywhere. It was a long ride over to that village in a Bullhead, so it would take even longer on foot. He chalked it up to some base primal instinct to preserve his own life. He chuckled at the thought, having believed that the instinct had been lost to him years ago.

"What now?" He asked himself, walking further and further into the forest. He had no idea why he wanted to go in this direction, but he didn't exactly have any other choice in the matter. He figured that if he was going to die, he was at least going to try and go down with a struggle. As little of one as he knew he would put up, he'd be damned if he didn't at least fight until his last breath. He was an Arc. And an Arc fights until they either arose victorious, or died trying.

Going along his way, he still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He looked around him and even above him, trying to see if there was anyone that had been tailing him or if any Grim was stalking him. He couldn't find anything of the sort. But he just couldn't dismiss the notion, knowing that in this forest, he couldn't let his guard down for even a moment. The only thing that would allow him to really relax would be a welcoming party from his friends. As unrealistic as that sounds, a boy could dream. And that positive outlook was what was going to help him get through this.

"I told myself that I would live without any regrets, but not being able to really confess Rubes and Pyr how I felt about them is something that I'll never live down." Jaune said to himself before he heard a low rumbling coming from the direction he was facing. It sounded like it was coming from the distance, but with how it was literally shaking the ground...he needed to move. Now.

"Shit!" Jaune exclaimed, grabbing onto a nearby tree and started climbing. Without his armor and weapons, Jaune had no trouble climbing up a roughly textured tree. Using the grooves as a natural grip to lift himself up higher and higher. He climbed as fast as he could, despite the fact that hiking the rough terrain of the forest for many hours had left him feeling worn out. He had reached the top of the tree within a minute, looking down from his nearly eighty meter perch. He was surprised at himself at how quickly he was able to climb. Despite his arms and legs burning with exertion, he finally carried himself over a branch and rested there, waiting for whatever had been thumping its way in his direction to pass.

Only waiting for a few seconds more, with the thumping of the ground becoming intense enough for the tree he was on and the surrounding trees to start to shake violently, Jaune saw something that made him realize exactly why he never saw any other Grim in this forest.

It stood at more than half of the tree's height. Around sixty to seventy meters tall. It had giant arms that were even thicker than the tree trunks. Both of them heavily plated in white bone armor. In fact, it's entire body was covered in heavy bone armor. small chips and gashes showing that it had seen many battles before. The _monstrosity_ had a torso that looked very much like a Wrecker's. With the slightly cylindrical shape and different layers of armor at the 'stomach' for maximum defense and maneuverability. But the strange thing was that the face wasn't on it's head, as there was no such thing to be seen on this creature. Instead, six eyes, each in two rows of three going down it's chest were shown. Each holding a bright red light of unyielding hatred. However, unlike other Grim, these eyes held a controlled rage that focused on whatever just so happened to cross it's path.

Further from that, It had three thick fingers in each hand which it clinched together, creating a loud clang that almost sounded like metal. It's legs were like columns of thick bone. The giant creature looked from side to side, moving it's body that was riddled with red patterns as if looking for something. Jaune knew that he was the reason for it's search. Jaune had to actively repress his emotions and cover his mouth to stop himself from breathing. Repressing his Aura was something that he had already done before he even got to the top of the tree. Fearing that he would give his position away to the utterly terrifying and monstrously built _**Regi Gigantice.**_

Jaune had heard of this monster of nightmares from his grandmother. She was the only one out of his grandparents to talk about it. His grandfather had been tight lipped about his fight with the Grim. Both he and his wife had to deal with one as it formed. His grandmother had told him that her, Nicholas, the rest of her team and several other Hunters had been sent out to try and gain more land from the Grimlands when they had encountered an Alpha Wrecker. The titan of bone armor had caused her section of Hunters some trouble. It wasn't anything that was too difficult, but it was when they had it on it's last legs that it's evolution came about.

When the Grim had been decapitated, they had all thought that the fight would be over, but the sudden ripple of armor and jittering of the creature's body had caused them to reenter their fighting stances. After several pulses of it's body, the Grim had suddenly stopped moving for a moment. In an instant the entirety of it's body exploded in a black mass. The entire cloud swirling and twisting, generating a gust of wind that blew nearly everyone away. The only people that could keep their footing were Nicholas and another one of his friends that acted as Tanks for the group.

The mass of darkness multiplied and grew until it had grew to massive proportions. Nicholas tried to walk towards it in an attempt to maybe stop whatever was trying to form, but right before he was able to swing his sword, the body of evil had pulsed again, pushing him back and knocking everyone on their backs.

When they looked up to the mass, it started forming something...something big.

The rest of the Hunters had just been able to get back into their feet when the mass had started settling into the shape of a Regi Gigantice. It had grown in height with more bone armor from before. Jaune had been told by his grandmother that looking into it's six eyes had been terrifying. But having to fight it was nearly nightmarish. A Wrecker was normally stronger than most other Grim with the weakness of being painfully sluggish. But the Regi Gigantice had an ability that made it truly terrifying. with it's blood constantly pumping faster and faster during a battle, It's body becomes faster and faster with it's strength becoming ever more vast. There were reports that a Regi Gigantice had once become so pumped that it just...vanished. It had been lost and no Huntsman team had been able to find where it had gone. The account had sent a wave of terror throughout those who knew about it. What happened to it? Did it evolve further? If so...where did it go?

All questions that had been gone unanswered. Even to this day, his grandparents were worried about it. His grandfather had sworn to hunt that thing down and kill it before anyone else had to die because of it. His grandmother on the other hand had prayed every day and night that Nicholas would never find it. She hoped that no one would have to go through the hell of fighting those things. But...the one that she described had nothing compared to this thing.

_'It must have killed everything in this forest. No wonder why this place is so devoid of other Grim!'_ Jaune thought to himself as he watched the Grim stay for a few moments longer before it suddenly struck with it's giant arm, seemingly going to attack Jaune, but instead, smashed it's large hand into a Beowolf that had been in the area. It retracted it's hand, showing a crater where the other Grim used to be. Jaune had nearly jumped out of his skin when the Regi Gigantace started leaving, toppling trees in it's wake.

.

..

...

"I need to get out of here as soon as I can." Jaune said to himself in a whisper, a cold sweat covering his brow and his breath heavy. Seeing that...thing, had made him remember the reason that he wanted to become a Huntsman in the first place. To make sure that other people wouldn't have to face these monstrosities.

Resigning to this fate...it went against what he promised his family. It was in violation of his oath to his friends. It betrayed his own dreams! He was Jaune Arc for Oum's sake! The next of kin to the Arc family. So what if he was weak? He would train even harder than before!

"What next?...I know what to do next. I'm going to get out of here, get back to my friends, and train harder than I've ever trained possible. I'll finally be able to fight as equals to the others. I wont be the dead weight! I refuse to fie in this forest. Even if I have to break every bone in my body, I'll make it out of here and get back to achieving my dream of becoming a Huntsman." Jaune said to himself, hearing the tumbling of more trees in the distance. He had a fire in his eyes, one that hadn't been there before now. He hadn't felt this truly motivated before. Before, he had a dream that he was passionate about, yes, but he didn't really have anyone to motivate him. He didn't have friends like now. His parents had been reluctant to support him and his sisters were only empathetic towards him. The only person that had really supported him was his sister Saphron. She had helped him get some transcripts with the help of her then Fiance now wife Terra.

Now though...he had people that he truly cherished. People that he loved. People that he needed to get back to. He'd be damned if he just gave up now after all the effort he put into this dream.

With a fire in his soul and a new mission to accomplish, Jaune slid back down the tree and walked forward. Determined to make it out of the Grimlands and fulfill his dream.

One way or another, he will make it out of here!

_'That's a promise. And an Arc never breaks their_ promise.'

This was the end of the story for 'Jaune the weakling', and the beginning of the journey of Jaune Arc.

The Man That Will Become King.

* * *

**Okay, so I finally got around to updating this story. Be warned, I probably wont be able to update again for the rest of the year. In other news, I am going to be working on the two One-Shots that I promised before I work on any other chapter. So with that out of the way, I will see you all in a few weeks, either on Thanksgiving or on Christmas. Maybe even both? Who knows. But I will post something by the end of the year. Anyway, that's all from me. I will see you all in another work of mine. Until then, Toodles~!**


	3. Restless Nights

**I would Like to point out that I am now trying to juggle about six stories where I only intended to be updating three. Plans change I guess. In any case, this me updating one of those stories. Anyway, on to the story!**

* * *

_"For the grace. For the might of the Lord. For the home of the holy~."_ Jaune sang of one of his favorite songs in a whisper. He was trying to keep his spirits high so that the Regi Gigantice couldn't find him so easily. There was hardly anything that tried to get at him as he walked through the forest area. He still couldn't see much with how the branches up above blocked out most if not all light coming through. He couldn't see if it was night or day, he only knew that he needed to get somewhere with other people.

"There has to be a small village, settlement, something. I can't be alone out here." Jaune told himself as he moved through a rather densely wooded area. He of course found nothing but more forestry. He sighed to himself before marking the nearest tree. He was smart enough to know that he should make sure to keep himself from going in circles. Seeing them would mean that he had been turned around in some way, but he hasn't seen them since he started making them. So that at least made him feel confident that he was going somewhere.

Jaune's footsteps resounded in the rather empty forest. Regardless of how hard he tried to keep his mood high, he still couldn't shake this anxiety that was steadily building in his gut. He still couldn't let that get to him though, he needed to soldier on. there was just too much at stake here to just let his fears overtake him. He had a promise to keep!

"I haven't heard the thing yet, so I'm sure that It's nowhere near me." Jaune said to himself as he carefully walked on. He was keeping a close eye on his surroundings. He may be one of the only things in this forest, but that doesn't mean that he should let his guard down. He was in the middle of Oum knows where with no idea where he was going. For all he knew, he could be stuck out here for the rest of his life...

"No! damn it! I'm coming back. I don't care what gets in my way, I'm going to see them again. Even if that thing gets in between me and my friends, I'll fight tooth and nail to get passed it." Jaune said resolutely, the ever present fire in his soul flaring up just a bit more as he slammed his fist into a tree next to him and marked it. However, what he didn't know or even _notice_, was that his pure will and determination had manifested itself into a physical form, if only slightly. His knuckles had changed color, as if they had been coated in something. Changing from what should have been purple, bruised skin, into a dark navy blue, almost black metal alloy. It only lingered for a moment before it receded back to his bare fist.

The man strode onward, his destiny residing within his own two hands.

* * *

Jaune had no clue what time it was now, only that he was getting tired and sleepy from how long he had been walking. It had to have been two or three days since he first woke up. However, whenever he even thought about trying to find a suitable place to rest for a bit, he'd hear something a little ways from his position that would get closer as time went on and he'd have to climb a tree to escape whatever it was. It always turned out to be either a small Beowolf or just a small rodent. He had to climb up those trees fairly quickly regardless. He needed to treat every encounter like that as if it were to be the Regi itself.

"I can't rely on my eyes here either. It's too dark." Jaune said to himself as he walked further on into the dense foliage. It was true. With little to no light here, his eyes proved to be useless. He had to rely on his other senses and his instincts to get around. Even now as his body was suffering from fatigue and hunger, he still had to make sure that he was devoting everything to his surroundings and not collapsing. He hadn't eaten anything since they arrived in that village to begin with. So that left him with an empty stomach in a place devoid of most life. Either he needed to find a settlement soon, or start catching whatever rodents might be out here.

He heard another rustling in the bushes next to him and grunted in light frustration. In his tiredness, he didn't catch whatever had been creeping up on him. His entire body ached for rest, but whatever was in that bush was coming strait for him. He knew for a fact that this wasn't a small creature that was trying to find a food source at this point. Especially not when it swiped it's sharp claws at him or growled in his face. It was only because of his instincts and something that he didn't realize he was using that he was able to effectively dodge and predict it's movements. He got into a weak stance, having no other choice but to fight. He was confident that he wouldn't be able to climb a tree fast enough to get away from the Beowolf that stood before him, and he certainly wasn't going to be strong enough to out run it. So the best he could do was fight it head on.

"Alright, come on you mangy mutt." Jaune taunted with eyes shut. In this environment, anything he'd see would most probably just confuse him. So with fake courage, he relied completely on his other senses.

The Beowolf, having found it's first source of food in weeks, had pounced at the chance of being able to feed. Most of it's pack had attacked the settlement when they were able to distract the Six Eyed Demon long enough. He stayed behind, knowing that the attack would not work. His encounter with another group of Hunters had taught him that trying to attack them head on within their settlements would not end well. He was correct of course, but it left him alone with no pack to hunt with. It was only because of it's agility and age that it was able to sneak around the Six Eyed Demon and catch whatever little creatures inhabited this place that it was able to survive. However, It had recently caught wind of a human wandering around here. It took a few days, possibly three, to find it due to the fact that the human seemed to be deterring it with positive emotions. However, with it's enhanced sense of smell, it was able to find them either way.

The Grim howled before swiping again at the human. However, it was surprised when it's prey had dodged seamlessly to the side. It would seem that this was no ordinary prey.

Jaune didn't know what happened there. In one moment, he couldn't tell if the thing was attacking or just sitting there, and in the next, he felt something within himself and could almost see what the Beowolf was doing. He didn't have time to think it over as that same feeling washed over him and 'saw' the attacks coming towards him and allowed his body to move on it's own. However, he knew that just dodging these strikes wouldn't win him this battle, so he mustered up his strength and tightened his fist, finding energy from his sheer willpower and threw his arm forward, that same navy blue metal covering his knuckles.

As the attack landed, Jaune heard a sickening crunch and would have wagered that it was his own hand breaking, but felt no pain. He looked confused for a moment before hearing the whimpering of his opponent and was surprised to realize that he had actually hurt it in some way. He shook off his shock and moved in for the kill.

The Beowolf had it's snout pretty much shattered after that blow. It hadn't expected it's prey to be so strong, especially since it had been days since it had last rested. It figured that it would have tired out already and that this would be an easy hunt, but that seemed to not be the case. It was also suffering from fatigue too though, having been starved for so long, it's strength was not what it should be. It's strikes slow and sluggish. However, for as weak as it was, it would not die without a fight.

_'Just one more hit like that and It's-GAH!'_ Jaune thought in his mind before he felt the pain of the Beowolf's claw strike his side. It hadn't been able to do anything thanks to his Aura, but since he exhausted his Aura killing that Nevermore, his Aura has been critically low. Even after all this time, it was only slowly creeping back up to full. He had only just registered that the strike was coming when it hit, breaking his Aura and forcing him to back off. He touched the area where he was hit and only found that the area was slightly bruised if the dull ache was anything to go by.

He calmed down after a moment and really focused on the fight, knowing that his opponent was injured, but still ready to tear him to shreds if he let his guard down. With an unwavering conviction and a deep snarl, Jaune stepped forward and charged his foe. The Beowolf in turn charged him too and went to disembowel the human and force them to submit before feasting upon their flesh, the satisfaction of victory belonging once again to the darkness.

As the two weakened fighters drew closer and the Beowolf swiping down at Jaune's midsection, Jaune had a flash of what was happening and brought his left hand to block the attack at the elbow and swing his right arm with as much strength as he could muster to end this fight. However the Beowolf had simply bent it's arm, wanting to harm the human as much as possible and possibly cause them to flinch before finishing them off.

It's claw had made contact with his midsection, but since it was only at half the strength since Jaune had blocked the attack, it didn't completely bisect the young man. However, the claws still dug into the flesh, no longer protected by Aura, and made a trail of blood as it traveled up his torso.

Jaune grit his teeth, feeling his skin be torn asunder by the Beowolf, it's four claws leaving permanent damage as it scraped across his rib cage, the pain being almost unbearable for Jaune. He saw his life flash before his eyes, fully knowing that if he were to falter now, the Beowolf would capitalize it and finish him off. However, as he thought about his friends, his loved ones and the two redheads in his life, a new vigor arose within him and with his sheer willpower, he tensed his muscles, grit his teeth, clenched his fist, and swung as hard as he could muster!

The claw that had been digging it's way across his chest had stopped at his collarbone due to the blue metal that had coated the front of his body. Jaune's entire fist being coated in the same substance. The Beowulf could only look on in confusion and slight fear as it felt it's own claw get stuck in it's prey and the fist make it's way to it's face. The only noise coming out of it's maw before the fist tore through it was a single grunt.

With the damage done and it's face caved in, the Grim had been killed and was quickly dissipating.

Jaune was breathing hard, his arm still outstretched and his face strained. The metal that had coated his chest stopping the claw had gone now and was now bleeding freely. He let out a grunt, struggling to even stay standing before he heard a loud rumbling off in the distance. He figured that the emotions he was emitting would have drawn the attention of other Grim, including the Regi Gigantice. He frowned at that fact before trying to move. He found that even trying to move was unbelievably painful. He almost collapsed then and there. However, as he heard the rumbling of a stampede make it's way towards his location, he thought about his friends and how he needed to get back to them and made his way forward despite the pain.

Jaune had only made it a few blocks away when he felt the rumbling of the ground become even more prominent and realized that he couldn't run away in time. He sure as hell couldn't climb a tree like this either, but he knew that he needed to do something. And fast.

"There's got to be a hollowed out tree or something around here." Jaune whispered to himself as he tried to move forward, a hand trying to apply pressure to his wound to slow the bleeding. His Aura, or whatever was left of it, was also mitigating the amount of blood loss that was happening. Thankfully, he found what he was looking for. Bad news was, it was a hole in the ground with a bottom that he couldn't see. However, as the tumbling of trees became closer and closer to his location, he realized that he really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Hesitating on just jumping into the darkness, Jaune looked behind him, seeing that light was breaking through thanks to the falling trees, he realized that The Regi Gigantice was almost upon him. With no other option, Jaune quickly took a breath and jumped into the hole, prepared for the possibility of there being stalagmites at the bottom of his fall. He just hoped to god that his death would be quick if that were the case.

As he fell into even deeper darkness, he could hear the deep call of the Gigantice from above, undoubtedly trying to find him. He fell for a few seconds before finding that he was suddenly submerged in water. It would seem that he got lucky. This was an underground cave or river. He didn't think much on it as he quickly swam to the surface and tried to pedal himself forward. It was then that he noticed a patch of glowing fungi near a shore off in the distance. It was the only light source in this entire area, so he naturally swam towards it.

He was swimming towards the light source, one hand still applying pressure to his wound while the other pedaled, when he heard a loud crumbling from up above. He didn't have to be a genius to realize what was happening. Especially not when he heard the Gigantice roaring loudly.

It was trying to break it's way down to him.

"Leave me the hell alone already you god damn bastard." Jaune grunted to himself as he could hear the falling of cave rocks splash around him.

He had just reached the shore of the small cave when he heard a loud splash behind him accompanied by the prominent call of the Regi Gigantice. He knew that he didn't have much time before the thing would be on top of him and promptly moved as fast as he could. He scanned the area around him, given the limited amount of light, he could only see so much. Thankfully, he saw a crack in a distant wall and an opening that he could tell would just fit him. Only problem, it was a fair distance away and he couldn't move too fast with his injury. But, with the sloshing of water and another call from the giant Grim, he threw caution to the wind and went into a full blown sprint.

He could feel the injury flaring up in pain, the skin tearing again where the blood had clotted. But he bared his teeth and did what was needed to survive. A good thing too since he could hear the loud stomping of the Grim behind him. He dared not to look behind him as he heard the footfalls come closer and closer.

He had that same feeling from earlier flood through his system when he quickly sidestepped to the left when he heard the crushing of rock at his side. Once again not having time to think on it, Jaune took this opportunity to keep running. At this point, he had been numbed to the pain and ran even faster. He had just made it to his destination and was going to try and maneuver his way through the opening when yet another impact had exploded behind him, causing Jaune to fly through the crack roughly. He shouted in pain, having scraped along the rough rock before falling onto the floor. He looked up to see that the pathway between his entrance and the exit was a lot larger than he had realized, having the cave wall be even thicker than what he first imagined. Either way, he could hear the Grim trying to get at him even now, so he got up into a low crouch to accommodate the small passage and trudged forward.

"Come on, just a little further." Jaune said to himself as he saw more of those glowing fungi up ahead. He had been crawling for well over a few minutes now, with the sounds of the Grim banging on the wall becoming less and less prominent. However, Jaune knew that a Grim that advanced would realize soon enough that it could just go around and meet him at wherever this cave system ended. That meant that he would need to move fast and find that exit before it did.

So as he finally weaseled his way out of the small crevice, he stopped to take a breath, having gone from a draining fight, immediately to a grueling run for his life, and finally into a triathlon to make sure that he didn't turn into a smear on the ground. He looked up to see that he had come upon a large expansion of the cave. He could see a pond to the left that he could tell had some fish if the one jumping out of the water didn't tell him that much. He set that aside for later as he looked ahead finding something strange.

"What in the...?" Jaune mumbled to himself as he saw that not only was there a field of grass that looked like it belonged more on the surface of his home town than an underground cave, but there was a single tree in the middle of it all. It wasn't all that large, probably only a bit larger than Jaune himself. That wasn't what had caught his eye however. It was the single fruit that hung from it. The thing being out in the open, without any sort of leaves or other branches hiding or covering it. The fruit hanging at chest height, hanging on a thin stem. He would have questioned what such a thing was doing here. Or why the fruit itself looked to be an over sized pear that's skin was pitch black in color with deep blue arrows going from the base of it to the stem. or even how any of those plants were able to grow without any sort of sunlight whatsoever, But...

"I'm too damn hungry to care." Jaune groaned out as he quickly strode forward. He stumbled a few times with how weak he felt and how fatigued his body became, but his hunger had driven him to move on. He was breathing heavily as he stood in front of the fruit, his vision slightly blurry, but with a shaky hand, he took hold of the fruit and tugged, finding a surprisingly small amount of resistance, having pulled the fruit away, he never noticed how the tree along with the grass below him started to wilt as soon as he took it. He then quickly took as big of a bite as he could out of the thing and swallowed as soon as he finished chewing. It was only after two more of these bites that he registered the taste.

"Ugh! That's disgusting!" Jaune exclaimed as he nearly gagged at how bad it tasted. He lightly heaved before regaining control of his coughing fit. He took deep breaths, looking to the fruit in his hands and noticing that the insides were a light blue color with seeds dotting along the entirety of it not unlike a dragon fruit. He was going to throw it away when his stomach growled again, demanding that he ate it. He wanted to chuck the damned, vile thing to the floor, but with how long it had been since he last ate...

"It'll have to do." Jaune lamented as he reluctantly took another bite of the vile fruit. He could already feel his body giving up on him without the adrenaline finally starting to wear off, but he needed to get something in his system. Besides, his numbness actually helped him get the fruit down.

So as he finished the rather large fruit down to it's core, his consciousness was finally starting to fade out. He had stayed awake for over seventy-two consecutive hours straining himself the entire time and sustained a serious injury. His body was now forcing itself to shut down so that it could go to work in trying to heal him. He was about to collapse when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Oi!" The voice called out. Jaune was barely able to just turn his head before falling to the ground, not able to do anything else. He took a few deep breaths before slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

Ozpin expected many things to happen when he had gotten an S.O.S today. He expected to see a team hurt, but relatively safe. He even expected them to be in critical condition, but all back in Beacon Academy where they could be treated. After all, they were his best first year teams.

However, seeing them arrive mostly unharmed was not one of them.

He almost let out a sound of relief when he saw the two teams come out of that Bullhead. He looked upon them with welcoming eyes. They looked sullen though. Probably because they had to come back so soon. It had only been a few days since they had gone out on that mission. Four to be exact. An extra day more than they were contracted, but he wouldn't complain as long as they came back safely. He looked upon all of them with analytic eyes to make sure that they were all safe, just as a precaution. Specifically team JNPR, mostly for their blonde leader-

.

..

...

"Where is Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked as a creeping sense of dread quickly made itself known. At the mention of the resident knight, all of them had various reactions. Though they all had the same undertone of intense grief. Pyrrha and Ruby had nearly broken down crying again as his name was mentioned. Rei was the same, but hid it better, which wasn't saying much considering a few tears broke out regardless. Nora had sobbed a few times as she looked down at the ground. Weiss looked away, having felt shame for not being able to do her job at protecting her friends. Regardless of what her relationship to Jaune was, she should have been able to protect him. He was a friend.

"He's..." Yang tried to choke out, but found it difficult to say. Her eyes were a crimson red, but from what? Her Semblance? From crying? A combination of both? Who knows, but she just couldn't say what happened. It was an injury that she just couldn't find the strength to push through. Her partner was the same, still trying to figure out why Jaune would sacrifice himself for them, or why he would feel that he was so much lesser than them. She hardly ever talked to him, but she could never have done something so brave...

"When the village was being overrun by Grim, we decided to evacuate and get to a safe location. However, as we were taking off, an Ancient Nevermore attacked us and nearly destroyed the engines. It was going to completely destroy the ship when the Team JNPR leader jumped off to kill the thing. It was thanks to him that we were able to barely make it to Patch. That's when the engines finally gave out and we crash landed into the forest. From there, we walked the rest of the way and were able to make it to town and call in another Bullhead." The pilot said, giving his report. He had already lit up a cigarette and took a puff as he stood a few feet in front of the teams. He let out a cloud of smoke as he said the next bit.

"In all my years, I've never seen such a young man do in a heartbeat what a veteran Huntsman hesitates to do." The pilot commentated as he walked off. He needed to get a drink.

Ozpin stood stock still as he heard that information. He turned to the two teams, seeing that they had started crying openly now, hearing it all brought the emotions back as fresh as the moment it happened. He saw Ruby with the Arc family Heirloom in her hands, clutched so tightly that if the Headmaster didn't know any better, he'd think that the metal was going to groan. Even still, he...he...

"We need to get a rescue team ready immediately." Ozpin suddenly stated, his expression serious. He turned on a heel and started strutting towards his office to make an order for the rescue of Jaune Arc. He was not going to let one of his most promising students die like this! Not a chance!

"Glynda, get as many Huntsmen as you can to go on this mission; I want every available Hunter going out there to rescue Jaune Arc." Ozpin commanded through his Scroll after his assistant answered. He was met with an affirmative before he hung up. He was still striding towards his office when he acknowledged the fact that the two teams were following close behind him.

"You need to stay here and rest. You are tired and weak from your long trek back. I do not wish to put you in danger when it is avoidable." Ozpin stated as he approached his tower. The two teams still followed him regardless, wanting to go out there and find their friend too!

"No! It's my fault that he's out there in the first place! I need to go out there and help find him!" Ruby cried as she spoke with a fierce conviction. She gripped the sword in her hands tightly and tried to stare down the older man, however, Ozpin was not in the least bit swayed.

"Ms. Rose, while it is true that you were the one to not only blackmail me into letting you go on that mission, to which I will be facing the repercussions as well for letting such a thing happen, it is also you who failed as the leader of _both teams_ and allowed for Mr. Arc to fall into the Grimlands. However, this is much larger than simply pinning the blame on someone, your classmate and friend is within the most dangerous, hostile environment on the planet. Punishment will be dealt with _if _he comes back. Even if he does, there is no guarantee that he will do so alive." Ozpin said, laying out the cold facts to them. It was enough to shock the rest of her team and subdue Ruby into not wanting to go. However, it would seem that the rest of team JNPR were still hellbent on going. Ozpin was about to enter the elevator to his tower that Pyrrha shut the doors close with her Semblance and spoke with an angry tone that wanted to leave no room for argument.

"We are going to get my partner back. I don't care what it takes, I **_am_** going. I don't care-" Pyrrha started before being interrupted by the Headmaster himself, a hard glare meeting her own. She may have been powered by grief and anger, however, it was nothing in the face of Ozpin's own emotion of conviction and willpower to make sure that his students are safe.

"You don't care about what, Ms. Nikos? That you will undoubtedly just get in the way of other Hunters who are better than you? That you would purposefully jeopardize their mission of getting your leader back safe and sound?" Ozpin started, fully facing them all as he said this. It was enough to make most of them take a step back while Pyrrha only hesitated.

"I can still-" Pyrrha tried to argue, but was interrupted once again when Ozpin got his final points across.

"-Get you and others _killed_. Ms Nikos-no, ALL OF YOU, would only serve to get in the way of the mission. These Huntsmen are already going to be risking their lives to even be out there, looking for Mr. Arc. If even **_one_** of you goes out there, it would ensure the failure of the mission and possible deaths of good men and women. Men and women with families. Families that might never got to see them again. I send _**all**_ of you, I would not only be sending those Huntsmen to their deaths, but you as well! I will _not_ be sending _**ANY**_ of you on this mission, _**AND THAT. IS. FINAL!"**_ Ozpin shouted as he slammed his cane down on the floor, causing visible cracks to form on the ground. His Aura had flared up do to his emotional outburst and was causing a small gale of wind. He took a few breaths before calming himself and turning to the elevator. Pyrrha had unleashed her hold on it and allowed him to enter. He pressed the button that would allow him to go up to his office. However, he did leave them with one final message before the doors closed.

"Rest. And hopefully in a week's time, you will see your friend again. One way or another." Ozpin said ominously as the doors shut and left them all in silence.

There were no words.

* * *

As Ozpin exited the elevator and into his office, he could already see that Qrow was there, wondering what it was that summoned him here. The man was already in the area, just keeping an eye on his nieces, but when he got the message on his Scroll that was meant for emergencies, he quickly made his way to the Wizard's office.

"Oz, what's going on? Where's the fire?" Qrow lightly joked. Ozpin didn't seem amused, but responded to him either way.

"You along with a party of Huntsmen are going into the Grimlands on a rescue mission. One of my students fell into it as they were flying away from it while on a mission." Ozpin explained as he tried to contact The Council, and ask for a few Huntsmen to go on this mission. Besides, he needed their permission to both fund, and execute the mission in the first place. If he could get the permission of just one of them...

"Alright, who am I looking for?" Qrow asked. He wasn't going to question why it was a single student or why they were flying over the Grimlands in the first place, he just trusted his friend to know what he was doing.

"Jaune Arc. 6'1'', age: 17. Blonde, blue eyes. Last seen wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans and brown, fingerless gloves. He has no weapon on him, so it is critical that you find him as soon as possible." Ozpin said, describing the blonde knight to the Huntsman. Qrow nodded, once again wanting to question why a First Year would be anywhere near the Grimlands, but brushing it off.

It was then that Ozpin finally got in touch with one of the Council members.'

"Hm? Ozpin? What are you calling for...on a Sunday? Who calls in on a Sunday?" The Council member questioned, agitated that someone would be trying to contact him on such a day. Ozpin brushed passed the comment and simply got to the point.

"Ferdinand, I wish to fund a mission into the Grimlands. A student of mine has-" Ozpin tried to say, but as soon as he mentioned the Grimlands, Ferdinand immediately looked put off and went to voice his opinion.

"That Grimlands? Absolutely not! Do you have any idea how much that would cost to even get a handful of Huntsmen out there? My answer is no." Ferdinand responded, frowning at the Headmaster. Ozpin's face scrunched up for a moment, before trying to reason with the man.

"Ferdinand, You must understand, one of my students is out there. If we don't send someone out there now, they are at even greater risk." Ozpin tried to argue, but Ferdinand was having none of it. He simply yawned, feeling tired of this conversation already.

"A student you say? Then they're already dead. There's no point in trying to find a dead body. Besides, that money could go to more important places..." Ferdinand trailed off, thinking of all the things he could do with that money for himself. Ozpin tried to argue further, but wasn't given the chance when Ferdinand shook his head.

"Drop it Ozpin, none of us will allow you to start this mission. And If I see that one of your Bullheads goes 'missing' in one of your reports, then there will be hell to pay. Now stop bothering me, I have things to do." Ferdinand stated before ending the call. Ozpin stood there for a moment in silence before quickly dialing up another Council member, wanting to see if they would be willing to give the green light on his request.

However...

"No."

"Are you kidding? That would be suicide."

"A single student!? Get real! As if we'd spend money for a single kid!"

"It doesn't matter if he's an Arc or not. They got plenty of kids already. They can just make another one."

"He's as dead as mud. I'm not spending a single dime on that brat."

"Let me put it in terms that you understand. I. Don't. Care."

He was met with only denials.

Every single one of them wouldn't allow him to even try to find his student. They couldn't care to see that he would get a proper burial either. Qrow stood there the entire time, cursing under his breath. He should have expected as much coming from the Council, but he'd hope that they would at least 'consider' it. But as he turned his head to see what Ozpin's next orders were, he heard and saw the older man crush his mug of hot coffee in his hand, not seeming to be bothered by the searing hot drink. His hair shadowed his eyes, but Qrow could still feel the malice and anger that he held regardless.

"Qrow." Ozpin finally said after a minute of silence. Qrow didn't need to be told anything else. He knew what to do.

"On it." Qrow responded, making his way towards the window. When he was about to jump out and turn into his bird form, Ozpin spoke up once again.

"Search as long as you can. I want him found, alive, if possible." Ozpin requested, not turning to look at the drunk. Qrow stood there for a moment before asking something.

"And if he's dead?" Qrow questioned, receiving nothing for a moment before Ozpin finally spoke up, not liking to think about it, but knowing that it was a very real possibility.

"We will host a funeral in his honor. I know that he wished to go out like a hero just as his ancestors have. And after saving teams RWBY and JNPR in his sacrifice, I believe without a doubt that he's done just that. I know he would have also earned his title as a Huntsman so I will personally give him that courtesy. Along with a statue that will be erected in his honor as his tombstone. Now go." Ozpin explained before sending Qrow off. The Huntsman stood there for a bit before nodding and flying off in his crow form.

As Qrow flew away, he thought about what the Headmaster said, and how this Jaune Arc had saved not only his own team, but also both of his nieces teams as well. He knew who Jaune Arc was, of course, both of his nieces talked about him and their other friends when they wrote home. It was mostly Ruby talking about him though. He could tell from a mile away that she had a crush on the guy, and he was going to give him a look-over when he came to officially visit during the Vital Festival, but now...

_'If the kid would give his life for her...then I would have been okay with him.'_ Qrow thought as he flew through the sky. He knew that the kid was most likely dead long before he even talked to the Headmaster, but at the very least, he'd find the body to give his niece some form of closure. Further from that though, Qrow wondered why the Headmaster would go so far as to do all of that for what would be a dead kid. A funeral, yes, and a ceremony of course. But to give him a whole statue in his name?

_'Make's you wonder what he was like in life.'_

* * *

**Yo, hey there my dudes. Just wanted to post another chapter this week, since it's been pretty slow lately. Worry not! I have already been working on another chapter of one of my stories. I'm like a couple thousand words in already, so expect it soon. Anyway, love you all, and I'll see you in another work of mine. Toodles~!**


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